Read Lyttelton's Britain Online
Authors: Iain Pattinson
WRITTEN BY
Iain Pattinson
EDITED BY
Jon Naismith
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781409050681
This paperback edition published by Preface 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © Iain Pattinson 2008, 2009
Iain Pattinson has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Preface Publishing
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London
SWIV
2
SA
An imprint of The Random House Group Limited
www.rbooks.co.uk
www.prefacepublishing.co.uk
Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84809 173 3
The Random House Group Limited supports The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the leading international forest certification organisation.
All our titles that are printed on Greenpeace-approved FSC-certified paper carry the FSC logo. Our paper procurement policy can be found at www.rbooks.co.uk/environment
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon
CR
0 4
TD
HUMPHREY LYTTELTON
’s family boasts a long line of land-owning, political, military, clerical, scholastic and literary forebears – not a musician among them. He always claimed to have most in common with a former Humphrey Lyttelton who was executed for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. Humph formed his first jazz band in 1948 and it soon became the leading exponent of traditional jazz in Britain. In 1956 his tune ‘Bad Penny Blues’ became the first jazz record to get into the Top Twenty. In a long and vigorous musical career Humph played with a vast array of musical talent, from Louis Armstrong to Radiohead. In 1971 Humph was invited to chair the pilot series of
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue
, a spin-off from the hit radio series
I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again
. Over the fifty series of
Clue
Humph hosted, the programme became one of the most successful comedy series in the history of BBC Radio, winning every award for radio comedy going, selling over 700,000 cassettes and CDs, and mounting two sellout tours of the UK in 2007 and 2008. Humph died in April 2008, after celebrating forty years as host of Radio 2’s
Best of Jazz
and sixty years as a bandleader.
IAIN PATTINSON
wrote Humphrey Lyttelton’s scripts for
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue
for the thick end of fifteen years. He didn’t bother with the clever end. Before writing for Humph, Iain supplied the chairman’s script for
the News Quiz
and many opening monologues for
Loose Ends
, also on BBC Radio 4. He was plucked from obscurity to write his first series of
Clue
in 1992 and subsequently went on to be plucked from obscurity twice a year thereafter to repeat the process. Since then he has contributed to countless television and radio comedy shows. A list of performers of his scripts now reads like a ‘Y to Z’ of British comedy. Projects to which he has contributed have amassed four Sony Gold awards, a Bronze Rose of Montreux, a Viewers’ and Listeners’ award, a TRIC award and a Cycling Proficiency Badge.
This book is for Humph
1921–2008
Mr Lyttelton’s personal Winnebago, generously funded by the BBC